Akane The Vampire Slayer OAV # 1 - "Fall"
by Chibi-Dave
Summary: Rated "R" for extreme darkness. The creation of the Chinese Vampires


AKANE THE VAMPIRE SLAYER OAV 01  
"FALL"  
By Dave Menard (deibu_kun@sympatico.ca)  
  
A MESSAGE FROM DAVE: Wow. That's about all I can say about all  
the wonderful things folks have said about this series. I, and  
the rest of the folks who've worked on this series (Rick, Matty,  
take a bow,) really appreciate your enthusiam for this project.  
  
That being said, this incomplete piece is the last ATVS  
chapter for the forseeable future. It leaves a lot unsaid and  
undone, and for that, I apologize. Writing takes a lot out of me,  
and this series in particular has come close to breaking me  
several times. It's dark, and grim, and very bad things happen to  
characters I'm quite fond of, and it's come to the point where  
I've had to take a step back and ask myself whether I can  
continue to write it. Sadly, the answer is no, at least for the  
time being.  
  
Will ATVS ever continue? Well, it IS a story set in the  
Buffyverse, after all, and things have a habit of coming back  
from the dead there...  
  
In closing, I love you all, and thanks for every kind word,  
every comment and criticism and cuff upside the head I've  
received from you all. In the meantime, why not check out some of  
my other works? "Tenchi Mucho", a lighthearted romp through the  
Tenchi Muyo! Universes, is still ongoing, and will be updated  
soon. If you prefer something a little darker, "The Bet- A Study  
In Scarlet" is also due to be updated as of this writing (July  
17, 2000), and "Le Plus Ca Change...", my often-silly tale of the  
adventures of Ranma and Akane's kids continues to bubble up from  
my unconcious. all those stories are available at my website  
(http://spghome.tripod.com/) or on Fanfiction.net.   
  
Dave Menard.  
  
  
WARNING: THIS PIECE IS EXTREMELY DARK!! I CANNOT STRESS THIS  
ENOUGH! IF YOU THOUGHT THE MAIN STORIES IN THIS SERIES WERE A  
BIT ON THE NASTY SIDE, YOU WON'T LIKE THIS. I DON'T LIKE IT,  
AND I WROTE IT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!  
  
Based on characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi  
and Joss Whedon.  
  
THE EVENTS IN THIS OAV TAKE PLACE BEFORE THE EVENTS RECORDED IN  
"AKANE THE VAMPIRE SLAYER PART ONE"  
  
************************  
  
Mousse of the Joketsuzoku carefully finished his  
preparations. The circle was painted, he had the ingredients he  
needed. All that was left was to cast the spell, seal the pact,  
and Shampoo would be his.  
  
He rubbed his arms through the sleeves of his robes,  
shivering in the cold mountain air that seeped in through the  
cracks and holes in his wooden hut. He'd found the scroll  
during his wanderings, almost by happenstance, on the shelves  
of a curio shop in Beijing. The scroll was written in an  
obscure dialect of Mandarin, with passages in Sezchuan and  
Cantonese as well as a smattering of English. Fortunately, he  
was quite good with languages, and had been ever since he was a  
child. The deciphering of the scroll had taken some time, but  
the end result would, he felt, be well worth it.  
  
His reading of the incantation led him to believe that the  
spell would summon a minor demon, one that would grant a wish  
to whomever performed the necessary rituals and sacrifices. He  
planned to wish for skill enough to prove his worth to Shampoo,  
to defeat the hated Saotome, to make Shampoo his by the only  
terms she would respect, her own. He had no intention of  
wishing for her love; That, he wanted to _earn_. He'd had the  
chance to have her by compulsion, and had turned it down. He  
wanted her heart, freely given.  
  
In reality, the spell breached a magical seal placed apon  
a demonic being, in no way minor, who had been sealed up for  
almost a century. Whether the being was under compulsion to  
grant a wish was a moot point, really, since Mousse didn't  
survive the being's manifestation.  
  
The creature that left the mountain cabin three nights  
later wore the shape of Mousse, but was no longer a rather  
simple-minded, obsessive soul with a talent for martial arts.  
In fact, the being had no soul at all...  
  
Mousse, for as long as he could remember, had loved  
Shampoo, with a depth and breadth of passion few would  
understand. It mattered little, in the end, if she returned  
that feeling. Mousse's love simply _was_, as constant as the  
mountains where he had been born, and as unchanging. Shampoo  
was the centre of his existence. For good or for ill, he loved  
her.   
  
Soulless creatures, however, know nothing of love. They  
know passion, to be sure, and lust, and desire, but not love.  
It was, however, enough. Enough to motivate the creature that  
had once been Mousse. And so Mu-Tsu the vampire went forth to  
seek his bride.  
  
  
**************************  
  
The sun was setting in Nerima Japan, and the long night  
began. Lights were switched on and lanterns lit, as the  
residents of the borough settled in to enjoy the lazy June  
evening. It was that particularly nice time of year, where the  
nip of cool spring nights had been replaced with a comfortable  
warmth, and the oppressive heat of Japanese summer had yet to  
arrive. The last of the cherry blossoms had fallen weeks ago,  
and the hum of cicadas died out with the descent of night.  
  
In the small dormer above the Nekohanten Chinese  
Restaurant, Cologne and Shampoo settled in for the evening.  
Candles were lit, and the Elder's study was bathed in tones of  
buttery gold and chocolate brown. The ancient lit a well-tamped  
pipe and puffed contendedly. Her Great-Granddaughter curled  
contentedly in front of the television, flicking through the  
channels until she came across a programme subtitled into  
Cantonese. Not her native tongue, but one with which she had  
greater facility than with fiendishly-difficult Japanese. With  
a contented purr, she snuggled into her cushion and lost  
herself to the escapist fantasies, where the girl got the man  
she loved, and lived happily ever after.  
  
Since both women were warriors by birth and by nature,  
they both heard the key open the back door and familiar  
footsteps climbing the stairs. Neither reacted with any alarm,  
although the younger of the two rolled her eyes and sighed, She  
had hoped he'd finally gotten the message and left for good. No  
such luck, it would seem. To be honest, they could have been  
forgiven their inattention as they were two of the most  
powerful martial artists in the greater Tokyo area, and had  
little to fear at all, especially from Mousse.  
  
Shampoo readied herself for the inevitable glomp Mousse  
would deliver and her routine replusion of same, but was  
surprised when the tall young man merely nodded at her and  
proceeded into Cologne's study. She relaxed. Maybe he had  
finally wised up after all. He wasn't a BAD person, per se, and  
she looked back fondly on their childhood games. But she simply  
didn't love him, didn't feel anything towards him but the sort  
of reluctant filial affection one feels towards an obnoxious  
sibling. She cocked an ear, prepared for the raised voices and  
sounds of a wooden staff impacting against an equally wooden  
head that always accompanied any conversation between Mousse  
and her Great-Grandmother. In good order, she heard the  
clublike end of the gnarled staff strike hard flesh, and then,  
silence. Hmm. Perhaps Mousse was unconcious again, which meant  
that Cologne would require her help in removing the fool from  
her private chambers.  
  
Shampoo stood and stretched, working out the kinks she'd  
developed from being curled around her cushions. With a rueful  
grin, she let herself into Cologne's study.  
  
"Great-Grandmother need Shampoo's help moving stupid..."  
  
Her smile died and faded with her voice as she witnessed  
the tableaux of horror in the candlelit room.  
  
***********************  
  
Cologne could have been forgiven for being unmindful of  
the danger that presented itself when Mu-Tsu entered her  
private chambers. She was, after all, easily his superior in  
the ancient art of Amazon Wu-Shu, and he had never presented  
her even the slightest problem in the past. She had briefly  
acknowledged his entrance with a grunt, and returned to her  
reading.  
  
Her danger sense barely managed to warn her in time as she  
spun on her stool, coming face to face with the boy she  
scornfully dismissed as "Mr. Part-time", both in reference to  
his employment schedule and his dedication to Martial Arts. He  
was very close, less than half a meter away, and he was...  
smirking at her?  
  
She had dealt with the boy's insolence towards his  
Matriarch before, so she proceeded to do what came naturally,  
and whack him upside the head with her staff. She grinned,  
aticipating the satisfiying thunk and groan of pain from the  
idiot male.  
  
It never connected.  
  
Mu-Tsu caught the staff in one hand and wrenched,  
disarming the old warrior and almost snapping her brittle wrist  
at the same time. Alarmed, she reached out with her ki-sense,  
to see how this previously-worthless male could suddenly have  
developed such amazing skill and strength. She attempted to  
read his aura, and found...  
  
Nothing. Nothing but a cold and empty void, blacker and  
chiller than the space between stars.  
  
Terrified, despite her awesome skill, she made to withdraw  
but was quickly pinned by what she first took to be chains of  
steel, Mousse's usual trademark. Instead, she found them to be  
ropy tendrils of cold, hard, metamorphic flesh. She opened her  
mouth to scream, but found it filled with more of the same vile  
substance. Frightened and helpless for the first time in almost  
ninety years, she looked into the eyes of the creature that  
held her, saw them flare with an evil light. She knew what he  
had become, oh Goddess, she knew, and she could do nothing,  
cocooned as she was without an ounce of leverage. Her  
overconfident dismissal of the boy had been her undoing.  
  
Mu-Tsu smiled, and the smile grew fangs...  
  
*******************  
  
Shampoo screamed at the sight before her. Her Great-  
Grandmother hung limp in the arms of her childhood playmate,  
mortally wonded or dead, her life's blood smeared across his  
face.  
  
Mu-Tsu laughed, low and long. "Am I strong enough now? I  
hope so, since even Saotome can't beat-" He shook the tiny,  
limp body in his fist. "-this. Come to me, my darling  
Shampoo..."  
  
Shampoo's mind was frozen, caught between the twin  
imperatives of flight or fight. The thing that once was Mousse  
flung aside the drained husk of Cologne's body and stepped  
forward, arms outstretched.  
  
Shampoo's resolve broke. She ran. It was, in retropect,  
probably the wisest choice she could have made. One thought  
screamed like a banshee in her head: Find Ranma. Ranma will  
protect me. Ranma can save me. Ranma can _always_ chase the  
monsters away...  
  
She made it as far as the vacant lot two blocks from the  
Tendo Dojo when he caught up with her. He alit in front of her  
with monstrous grace, an fallen angel, beautiful and terrible  
in the darkness. "No, Shampoo. You mustn't run to _him_. You  
have me, now. Don't you see? This is all for you! Now I'm  
strong! The strongest one there is! Now we can be together,  
FOREVER!"  
  
Shampoo, despite what some thought, was not a stupid  
woman. Backward, sheltered, perhaps. Ignorant, certainly. But  
not stupid. Confonted with an opponent you cannot defeat, there  
are twin options: Honorable death in combat, or a strategic  
retreat to regain strength and seek out allies. Since she felt  
that she had something to live for, she opted for option two.  
Like a shot, she took off to the left, towards the fence that  
separated the lot from the housing development.  
  
In a dark flash, he was in front of her once more,  
blocking her escape. She dodged back the way she came, but he  
was behind her already. Frantic now, she swung out with a  
scissor-kick at his head, which he flowed around like water. A  
machine-gun barrage of punches flailed out and missed their  
target. She leapt high and flipped backwards, avoiding the  
streams of what might have been chains, but probably weren't,  
that shot towards her nimble frame from the sleeves of his  
robes.  
  
Inevitably, she began to tire as the combat drew on.   
  
  
To her dismay, she had yet to land a single punch against the   
creature that wore Mousse's face, and every avenue  
of escape was blocked as soon as she made a dash for freedom.  
The neighbors, used to the all-hours combat of the martial  
artists in the borough, took little notice of the commotion  
except to cover their heads with pillows and hope that the  
inevitable final explosion would bypass their house.  
  
As such, no one heard her scream as a spiked tendril  
finally struck home, piercing her through her right shoulder  
and transfixing her. The vile appendage cut open a major  
artery, and blood fountained from the wound. She fell,  
clutching her maimed shoulder, her strength completely fled.  
The monster stalked foward, withdrawing the viciously barbed  
whatever-it-was, pulsing, back into his sleeve.  
  
"Do you see? Now, I'm strong! Now, I'm worthy! You are  
MINE now!! Mine, at LAST!!" Triumphantly, he lifted her high by  
the front of her shift, bringing them face to face. The  
sulphurous orbs of his eyes blazing in mingled triumph and  
lust.  
  
Shampoo could only look weakly into those orbs as she felt  
her life ebb. He had such beautiful blue eyes once, she thought  
madly, as she stared into the twin hellpits. With a shuddering  
breath, she gathered what little moisture that remained in her  
mouth and spat into the bestial face.  
  
"You may take Shampoo's life..." she ground out savagely  
through clenched teeth. "But you NEVER take Shampoo's heart!"  
  
She felt a crushing pain as her chest imploded under a  
terrible impact, then a bloody, fist-sized object was held up  
to eye level.  
  
"Really?" the demon snarled, and began to feed...  
  
************************  
  
Akane Tendou sat up straight in her bed, a horrible,  
knifelike cramping wracking her abdomen. Groaning, she found  
her feet and turned on her bedside lamp. Acting on instinct,  
she threw her comforter off her bed and examined the sheets. No  
blood. Must be PMS, then. Wincing, she made her way downstairs  
to the bathroom and got herself some Midol and change her pad.  
  
*************************  
  
  
It was almost a week before anyone suspected that  
something was wrong. With the exception of Ukyou, who was in  
Kansai visiting family, all of Ranma's ever-persistant suitors  
and suitorettes were not only missing, but unaccounted for. The  
Kunos had been absent from school for four days in a row  
without a word to anyone, and the Nekohanten bore a neatly-  
lettered sign announcing that the establishment was closed for  
renovations and the owners were on vacation in China.  
  
So it was a relaxed and tranquil Tendou household that  
night. Or at least, things were as tranquil as they ever got.  
Akane and Ranma were fighting like cats and dogs, the youngest  
Tendou's already short fuse shortened even further by painful  
recurring cramps and crass remarks from her iinazuke. Kasumi  
had just served dinner, and the family was setting to with  
their usual gusto. Insults and imprecations flowed like water  
between the unhappy couple, tears and solemn oaths from the  
fathers, sarcastic banter from Nabiki, and cheerful  
pleasantries from the mistress of the house, Kasumi. Even the  
loathesome presence of Happousai was tolerated this night,  
since he was installed in front of the television with a bowl  
of soba and a two-hour bathing-beauties special to watch.  
  
It was after dinner, while Soun and Genma were enjoying  
their after-dinner tobacco fixes over a game of shogi and some  
warm sake, that disaster struck.  
  
THE END. FOR NOW... 


End file.
